


All Hail the Pumpkin King

by NotOneLine



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dan Doesn't Know, Deckerstar - Freeform, F/M, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Halloween, Humor, Light Angst, Love, POV Dan Espinoza, Post-Season/Series 04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:09:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27269254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotOneLine/pseuds/NotOneLine
Summary: It's Halloween, and as Dan adjusts to Lucifer and Chloe's new normal, Lucifer tries to get in the holiday spirit. If getting in the spirit means claiming as much candy as he can, whilst also annoying Dan as much as possible in the process.But when their banter stops long enough for Dan to try and make amends for the past, they find that together, they might just be able to defeat some monsters too.
Relationships: Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar, Dan Espinoza & Lucifer Morningstar, Dan Espinoza & Trixie Espinoza, Trixie Espinoza & Lucifer Morningstar
Comments: 24
Kudos: 250





	All Hail the Pumpkin King

Dan approached the apartment with his usual sense of low level dread. In the past, his visits to the penthouse were always bad enough; nervously waiting for those elevator doors to open, more than aware that they might be about to reveal all sorts of things he _really_ didn't want to see.

But now that Lucifer had officially become Chloe's partner in more than one sense of the word, his increased presence in her home left Dan doing the same thing here as well, never quite knowing what he might find once he went through that front door.

First, there was the time he walked in to find Trixie's babysitter tied to a chair; the poor woman's screams muffled by the multi-coloured headband tightly secured around her mouth. Apparently Maze was none too pleased about arriving home to find she'd been replaced for the evening, and Dan had turned up in the middle of his daughter's 'lesson' on how to detect and torture imposters.

He may have actually given Lucifer a pass on that one, if it wasn't for the fact he was sat in the corner diligently taking notes and grading Trixie's efforts.

Dan had never seen him pay so much attention to paperwork.

Then, a few weeks later, he arrived to be faced with a wall of white, thanks to the giant pillow fort taking up nearly the entirety of the living space. By the look of it, Lucifer must have used every single piece of linen available in the apartment, including a set of gold silken sheets that had most definitely been sourced from elsewhere.

At first, he actually thought it was kind of sweet, but that was only until the self-titled Devil made it perfectly clear exactly what he and Chloe planned to do in said fort, as soon as Dan had taken his "spawn" away for the evening. What followed was a serious talk about boundaries, which, judging by their conversations since, Lucifer hadn't listened to in the slightest.

Worst of all, though, was just a few days earlier when Dan managed to mix up his dates, and arrived to find the door ajar. Thinking it had been left open for him, he entered to find his ex-wife and her consultant on the sofa, covered in a blanket that looked as if it was made entirely out of feathers, busy doing… well, he had tried very hard to scrub the memory from his mind, put it that way.

So when he came to collect Trixie for her school Halloween party that day, he prepared himself for the worst. Chloe was stuck at work, so he already knew Maze and Lucifer had been left in charge. As much as someone _could_ be in charge of his daughter, that is. Sometimes he suspected it was far more likely to be the other way around.

At least it was his turn to take her out trick-or-treating this year, so there wouldn't be a repeat of last time. He still wasn't sure Lucifer fully understood that buying out the entire stock of the local Lolli & Pops store was _not_ the same as taking Trixie from door to door. Even if it did have the same result of the pair of them ending up in a sugar coma.

He was just about to knock when the door swung wildly open before him, thereby revealing the first thing he hadn't expected to see that day. A scowling Maze stood on the other side, but it was a Maze unlike any he'd seen before. At first glance, he didn't even recognise her. Every inch of the bounty hunter was covered in shimmering glitter and sparkles, and as for what she was wearing… well, it could only be described as a princess gown straight out of a Disney movie.

It took several seconds for him to become aware that he was just standing there gaping; a realisation very much helped along by the withering look Maze gave him. Unbidden, a slow smile began to creep across his face.

"What?" she snapped, shoving past him, "I lost a bet, okay?"

Unable to resist, he quickly spun around to take one last look at the normally leather-clad woman dressed in frilly pink lace, just in time to see her throw what looked eerily like a Chucky doll into the nearest flower bed. _"How was I supposed to know a dog costume wouldn't fit a baby?"_ he heard her grumble as she stormed off towards the parking lot.

Laughing to himself, he started to turn back towards the door. One thing was for certain, his day wasn't going to get much better than _that_. If only he'd been able to get his phone out in time for a photo…

"Daniel!"

Lucifer's usual exuberant greeting rang out from inside the apartment, causing Dan to stop for a moment. He made sure to take a deep breath before continuing to turn any further, and silenced the groan threatening to fall from his lips. As always, he reminded himself that despite everything that happened, part of him still liked the guy, saw him as a friend even. Granted, theirs was a friendship that had been anything but smooth, and he would always carry some anger and resentment over Lucifer's past choices, but he made Chloe happy. He made his _daughter_ happy. And really, wasn't that what was important?

It wasn't as if he'd been the only one to make bad choices these past few years.

Besides, Chloe made it quite clear when her partner appeared back on the scene following yet _another_ disappearance from their lives, that Dan needed to get over himself. And so he did. Or, at least, he was trying to. Linda was a great help with that, as she had been with so many things since he started seeing her. Through their sessions together, he'd come to realise that after his own marriage to Chloe ended so badly, all he wanted was for her to find someone she loved, who could love her as she deserved to be loved in return.

And in Lucifer Morningstar, she had.

"Do come in," Lucifer said, beckoning him inside in a way that wasn't disturbing in the slightest, given the large kitchen knife in his hand. "I'm afraid the spawn has gone back to her room to change, but she should be ready shortly." He tucked the knife into his jacket pocket as Dan entered, as though he'd only just noticed he was still holding it. Not for the first time, Dan found himself wondering just how big those pockets inside it were, considering the size of the things he seemed able to store in there. Lucifer shut the door behind him, but not before taking a good look outside. "Did you happen to see Mazikeen on her way out, by any chance?"

A moment of shared understanding passed between the two, shortly before Lucifer's face split into a wide grin that Dan couldn't help but echo. "I did warn her that just because my nephew has chosen to crawl around rather than walk, that a four legged costume might not necessarily be appropriate," Lucifer said rather gleefully.

"And the dress?" Dan asked, following him into the kitchen. The sight of the many Halloween decorations littering the space made him smile. Carved pumpkins of all shapes and sizes littered the window sill, handcrafted bats hung from the light fixtures, and cobwebs covered almost every available surface. Trixie had been a big fan of the holiday from the moment she was old enough to understand what it was, and as a family they'd always made an effort to indulge her.

"The Detective's costume from last year's trick-or-treating, I believe," Lucifer replied, as he busied himself at the coffee machine. After handing Dan a cup, he leaned back against the counter and took a sip of his own, his brows furrowing as he appeared to contemplate something.

Dan looked down at the coffee he was now holding in surprise, wondering when the last time was that Lucifer had made him one. The consultant's coffee making abilities were well renowned down at the station, and any pot he made was always in high demand. But whereas at one point he'd started pouring Dan a cup at the same time as Chloe, that habit had died out long ago, for obvious reasons.

Idly, he wondered if he wasn't the only one Chloe had told to make more of an effort.

Movement caught his eye as Lucifer put down his now empty coffee and drew out the knife again, flipping it into the air repeatedly and catching it on the downfall with ease. "I do hope she has a more... _fitting_ selection of costumes picked out for tonight," he mused, his eyes gleaming wickedly at the thought.

Dan silently counted to three in his head before speaking, a technique that proved invaluable now he had to spend more time around the consultant than in the past. "Dude." Lucifer merely looked at him quizzically in response, and Dan sighed. "Ex-wife. Mother of my child. There's a line, remember?" With a slight shake of his head, he rolled his eyes at the man's naivety. "Besides, do you really think _Chloe,_ of all people, is going to—"

Lucifer tilted his head to the side with a knowing smile, his eyebrow raised, saying silently more than Dan ever wanted, or needed, to know. Inside his head, he slammed the brakes down on that train of thought before it could go any further. It was easy to forget sometimes that Chloe's relationship with Lucifer was very different from how theirs had been. That Chloe _herself_ was different, not just after she and Lucifer got together, but almost from the very day they met.

"Never mind," he added hurriedly, hoping to save himself any further information. "Forget I said anything."

Unfortunately, the smirk that blossomed over Lucifer's face was impossible to miss. Thankfully though, it seemed he had decided to allow the conversation to move on. "At least it appears the attempts to persuade me into wearing a "me" costume have ceased," he said, as he smoothly pushed himself away from the counter and made his way around to the other side of the breakfast bar, where the largest of all the pumpkins sat. "I've told the Detective repeatedly that the Devil doesn't have horns... I fail to see the appeal of adorning myself with some."

Pulling up a stool, he scooted closer to the counter before placing the knife he was holding next to a selection of other progressively smaller ones. His curiosity peaked, Dan watched in amazement as Lucifer pulled the pumpkin closer, tilting it upwards to get a better look at whatever he was working on.

"You're kidding me," Dan said, quite unable to believe what he was seeing. " _You're_ pumpkin carving? _You."_

And in a suit as well, despite the pumpkin innards that surrounded him. Honestly, was there anything that man _didn't_ do in a suit?

"Your powers of observation astound me, Daniel. It's little wonder you became a detective with that amount of skill in deductive reasoning."

Dan chose to ignore the slight, as usual. Sometimes it was easier to just let it wash over him than try to argue. Conversations with Lucifer could be exhausting enough by themselves, what with his metaphors and crazy talk. On top of that, Dan spent most of his time at the precinct these days having to navigate around the consultant's constant attempts to bring up his sexual exploits, mostly when Chloe wasn't around, of course.

_"Why didn't you tell me sex with someone you love could be so splendid, Daniel? Honestly, it's quite frankly selfish of you to have kept this information to yourself all this time. Why, when myself and the Detective were at a stakeout last week, she…"_

And that was around about the time Dan stuck his fingers in his ears and ran out of the break room.

There was nowhere to run right now though, not when he needed to wait for Trixie.

"But why? Chloe said you hated Halloween."

Lucifer looked up from the pumpkin, smiling brightly. "Oh did she now? Discussing my proclivities down at the station already, I see. Or perhaps you picked up this gem of information during girl's night?"

Dan frowned. "Of course not, why would I be at—Oh, ha-ha, very funny, man."

He watched as Lucifer's hand skimmed over the various implements laid out in front of him, before selecting what looked like a small craft knife. "Hmm," he hummed, his eyes flickering between the pumpkin and what looked like a photograph, tucked under one of the knives. "It was rather, wasn't it?"

Slowly, he drew the blade through orange skin. After taking a second to admire his work, he made a similar cut, until Dan heard the sound of something falling into the hollow centred. Lucifer reached inside to retrieve it, before tossing the unwanted piece into a nearby pile of discarded flesh and innards.

"The Detective is correct though," he mused, leaning in as he prepared to make another cut. "Halloween does indeed happen to be my least preferred of all the human holidays. I appreciate the costumes, certainly. The opportunity to become what one desires to be for an evening is not to be sniffed at, but… this time of year brings with it a connotation of evil, darkness and monsters."

"And you don't like to be associated with all that."

Lucifer regarded him, his eyes dark and serious. "I do not wish to be reminded that I am one of them," he said grimly, before returning to his work. "And as for my current task, the spawn requested I take up the knife after her mother declared Maze's efforts… unsuitable."

He used his free hand to gesture towards the garbage can, where what remained of a pumpkin sat perched on top, waiting to be disposed of. It looked as though someone had tried to hack it to death, rather than resembling any sort of attempt at carving.

"What on earth _is_ it?" Dan asked, tilting his head to the side to see if that made the grotesque decoration any clearer.

It didn't.

The consultant sighed, his eyes briefly glancing at the object of Dan's fascination. "I believe, Daniel, it is intended to be a depiction of yours truly."

Well, that made sense. Maze hadn't exactly taken it very well when Lucifer left. After a few weeks they'd actually started having criminals handing themselves in at the station, after learning the bounty hunter was on their trail. Apparently that was better than facing her wrath at his abandonment. "She's still pissed at you, huh?"

"Indeed. I've made my apologies, but demons do not forgive easily."

Dan couldn't help himself. "Unlike Chloe?"

He still couldn't understand it, how easily she let him back in. How she _always_ let him back in, no matter what he did. Admittedly, there was part of him that was a little jealous over that. His actions at Palmetto were the death knell for their marriage, but sometimes he wondered how different that was to Lucifer withholding what he knew about Pierce. And although she'd forgiven them _both_ , it was Lucifer who held her heart now.

It would never have worked out between them in the end, he knew that. But at least he'd never run off and married a stripper. That had to count for something in the good romantic partner stakes, right?

A small smile graced Lucifer's lips. "The Detective has been… more accepting of my absence than I could have ever hoped for."

That only made his annoyance grow stronger. "Accepting? Dude, she was a _wreck_. You were gone for months, and I… I've never seen her like that before. I mean, you guys weren't even together, and she was heartbroken!"

Lucifer raised his head so quickly, Dan barely even saw him move. The late afternoon sun caught his irises through the window, giving them an otherworldly red glow that vanished almost as quickly as it came. "I do not require the reminder, Daniel," he said, grinding the words out between his teeth. "And besides," he muttered, placing his knife down on the counter and straightening it to match the others, "she wasn't the only one."

Something passed over Lucifer's face that left him looking… well, the best way Dan could describe it was _haunted._ He watched as the man reached out absent-mindedly for another blade, seemingly uncaring which. Dan had to look away for a second, before forcing himself to push past any sympathy he felt for him. Lucifer might be sorry he left, but it didn't change the fact that he did.

"How do I know you won't disappear again?" he asked, shrugging when his question was met with a raised eyebrow, Lucifer obviously unable to understand why he cared. "This is my family, man. It was bad enough before, but you're… you're _involved_ now. Hell, you're _part_ of it. If you just up and vanish—"

Lucifer froze, his hand hovering over the pumpkin, whatever cut he was about to make forgotten as he focused all of his attention on Dan. "I won't. You have my word on that, Daniel. I would fight Heaven itself rather than leave the Detective again."

He sighed, looking back towards the monstrosity currently decorating the garbage can again. "And as for Mazikeen... I made her a promise. Granted, at the time I couldn't have foreseen the events that would lead me to break it… but it was broken nonetheless. And although leaving her behind was the right thing to do, it was a decision I should have allowed her to make herself. Therefore, her anger is... understandable."

Dan was almost impressed. As Lucifer's words sank in though, he realised how familiar they seemed. "You sound like Linda."

Lucifer chuckled. "I suppose I do. It would seem thousands of years with nobody but demons to talk to makes one more inclined to actually listen during therapy."

As usual, Dan chose to gloss over Lucifer's metaphors. Besides, the hidden meaning in his words was clear. He still wasn't sure exactly where Lucifer had gone, other than it being 'down south', but wherever it was… he'd been lonely. The least Dan could do was show him that he still had friends here. Friends who might have missed him, just a bit, while he was away. Not that 'they' would ever admit that.

Putting down his now-empty coffee, he joined Lucifer on his side of the breakfast bar, where he could get a good look at what he was working on. To his surprise, it wasn't actually half bad. Two bat-like wings flared out behind an imposing figure, one that reminded him distinctly of…

He shook his head, suppressing a snort. "I might have known you'd choose to do the Devil."

"Most people do. Especially your ex..."

Dan coughed.

"...cellent colleagues at the station," Lucifer continued. Then he paused, looking thoughtful. "Although I suppose the term is 'did' now. I'm a one-woman kind of Devil these days."

Well, that was good to know, at least. The information about his fellow officers, not so much.

Leaning closer to get a better look, he withheld a chuckle at Lucifer's obvious mistake. "You forgot to add the horns," he pointed out, in a way he hoped sounded helpful. That wasn't the most puzzling part of the design though. "Why on earth is it wearing _pants_?"

"'It' doesn't have horns, Daniel, because _I_ don't have horns. It would hardly be a self-portrait if I gave myself extra appendages now, would it?" Lucifer looked back over his shoulder, and the eye roll he gave him was eerily similar to the ones he used to receive regularly from Chloe. "And speaking of appendages, the trousers are there at the request of the Detective. Apparently, showing anything else wouldn't be 'child-friendly'. Personally, I think she just couldn't find a pumpkin big enough to fit my—"

 _"Legs_ on," Dan said quickly, casting a worried glance towards Trixie's room. "Right?"

Another eye roll. "If you insist, Daniel. Quite frankly, it was hard enough fitting it all in a selfie."

Dan shook his head. "A selfie? What..." he said, struggling to wrap his head around what Lucifer was saying. The consultant ignored his obvious confusion, selecting what looked like a small clay modelling tool and scooping out some flesh from inside one of the wings, his eyes once again drifting to the nearby photograph.

"Well, I needed something to work from, didn't I? I've hardly spent much time memorising what I look like standing in front of the mirror in that form, for obvious reasons."

Surmising that this was the 'selfie' he was referring to, Dan ducked around Lucifer to swipe up the image from the counter. One second later, he felt his jaw drop to the floor. The creature depicted in the photo was _terrifying_. The wing span alone was incredible; he had no idea what kind of support system there was to make sure they remained flared out like that, but the weight alone upon the person wearing them must be staggering. It was no wonder Lucifer had been forced to curl the edges of the design around the pumpkin, the odds of getting one wide enough were pretty much impossible.

The skin though, that was where the real work came in. Layers of gnarly red flesh covered every inch of Lucifer's body, the man underneath barely recognisable. Scars and welts twisted their way across his torso, up to his face, where the shape of his nose became a bit more familiar. His eyes though… it was beyond him as to how contacts could even look like that..

"Dude, these prosthetics are _amazing_. Where'd you get a costume like this? Is it some part of a movie? They're not remaking Hellboy _again_ are they?"

Lucifer spluttered, before glaring at the area of pumpkin he'd just accidentally scraped too far into. "Hellboy, Daniel? _Really?_ For one thing, Hellboy is a demon, _not_ the Devil, and for another—"

Dan couldn't stop himself from interrupting. "You're a Hellboy fan?" Like himself, he knew Lucifer was a fan of action movies, but he couldn't quite picture him sitting down to watch the Hellboy movies. Even weirder would be the idea of him reading the comics. Unless of course Ella lent them to him. It hadn't escaped his attention that the scientist had been slipping him Star Trek DVDs on the regular.

"I wouldn't say fan, exactly. Call it an appreciation for the art of Guillermo del Toro. To answer your question, though, I 'got it' from my phone, and it is _not_ a costume."

He looked at the pumpkin and sighed, before picking up yet another tool and cutting out what was obviously supposed to be a belt buckle. "Naturally, I would have preferred to have depicted my best Armani, the spawn insisted it wasn't 'scary enough'. Not that she appears to find my Devil form in the least bit frightening either."

His expression became puzzed, and he shook his head slightly before looking at Dan with a frown. "Your offspring is quite peculiar, Daniel."

"...Thanks?" Coming from Lucifer, that might well be a compliment in his eyes.

"No, truly. Together with the Detective, you've raised quite the extraordinary child." A small, fond smile tugged at his lips, and for the first time, Dan could really see it. Lucifer loved his daughter. Maybe not as much as he did Chloe, and certainly in a different way, but it was there. Was he the ideal step-parent? Definitely not. But what more could he ask for, other than for someone to care for his child in the same way he did? He felt a newfound spark of respect for the once-upon-a-time club owner and playboy, who he could never have imagined reaching this point.

As usual though, Lucifer didn't know when to stop. "Of course, she gets that from her mother, but I'm sure you must have played your part somewhere," he said, waving a dismissive hand in the air in Dan's direction.

Drawing in a deep breath, Dan chose to ignore it. "Where'd you learn to carve like this, anyway?" Somehow, he couldn't really see Lucifer spending his time hollowing out pumpkins every year. But if this was his first time, then he must have at least done something similar in the past.

"Nowhere you'd want to visit, Daniel, believe me."

As if Dan wanted to waste his vacation days learning how to carve stuff up. Mind you, Maze's idea of pretending a pumpkin was Lucifer could actually prove quite therapeutic some days. And speaking of Maze...

"Did Maze teach you?" he asked. Judging by the amount of knives he'd had to confiscate from Trixie over the years, and the state of the dummy they practised on together, the bounty hunter was a dab hand with them.

Lucifer grinned, twirling the blade he was holding between his fingers. "More like the other way around, I'm afraid."

He had to be having him on. Sure, Lucifer could fight, he'd give him that, but claiming to be _that_ skilled? "Nah, I don't buy it. I've never ever seen you use a kni—"

In a blur of movement, Lucifer twisted around on his stool, the knife in his hand flying across the apartment, burying itself several inches deep into the wall next to the sofa. Less than a second later, another followed, only this time, it didn't hit the wall at all. Dan found himself walking across the floor to the living room in wonder, staring at the two blades.

The two blades, one of which was buried in the others hilt.

A voice called out from Trixie's room. "Lucifer! Mommy said no more knives in the wall. You'll get Maze in trouble again!"

Dan looked back at Lucifer, his mouth agape, and the consultant just shrugged. "Eons in Hell with nothing to do," he said. "Plenty of time to practice." He gestured with an open palm that Dan should bring back the knives, which he did, still dumbfounded.

The amount of effort it took to wrench the first knife from the drywall only added to that.

Lucifer hummed as he turned back to his creation, finally at the stage where he appeared to be adding the finishing touches. "Well, not nothing to do, I suppose. At least pumpkins don't scream."

It was enough to snap Dan out of his stupor, remembering Lucifer's comment from earlier.

"Do you really see yourself that way?" he said cautiously, nodding towards the creature Lucifer had so carefully carved. "A monster, that is."

"Of course I do," Lucifer replied, his concentration on his work suddenly increasing, as he quite deliberately avoided meeting Dan's eyes. "As do you, if I recall. Somehow I doubt my recent tenure down below has improved such matters."

_"Just talk to him. Lucifer appreciates honesty. And he's a lot more forgiving than you'd think."_

Linda's words from their last session echoed in his mind. They'd been talking about moving forward, and a big part of that for him meant burying the hatchet with Lucifer. And if he didn't do it now, it might never happen.

"Look, about that," he said, placing a hand on Lucifer's shoulder, hoping it would be enough to make him turn. When that didn't work, he tried a little pressure, but it was like trying to move a monolith. Reluctantly, he gave up. If he had to apologise to the back of his perfectly coiffed hair, then so be it. "I'm not saying you didn't do anything wrong, but the way I treated you… I acted like an ass, and I… I'm sorry."

The response was immediate. "You have nothing to apologise for."

That wasn't what he wanted to hear. Mainly, because it wasn't true. Surely Lucifer had to know that, despite his claims that he didn't lie. "Nah, man, I went too far. I was—"

Lucifer sighed, lowering his tools as he sat up straight, before pushing the pumpkin away from him a little. "Feeling guilty," he said, finishing Dan's sentence with ease. He patted the stool next to him, and after a moment, Dan slid onto it accordingly.

"...How did you know?" he asked, wondering if it had been that obvious to everyone. Until now, he thought only Linda had picked up on it.

"It's rather my area of expertise, I'm afraid. Guilt tends to have an adverse effect on humans, well, on all of us really. It's not hard to recognise the signs." Pulling his flask out from his jacket, Lucifer offered it to him, but he shook his head. The room fell silent as Lucifer drank, then deftly returned what was undoubtedly whisky to his pocket. "I did try to distract you from it, but unfortunately my efforts proved somewhat in vain."

"Distract me?" He thought back over everything that happened after Charlotte, and before Lucifer went away. "Wait a minute... the Chewbacca calls… the pranks… the... _everything._ That was you trying to _distract_ me?!"

"Indeed. And as I said, it clearly failed. Which is strange indeed, because my plans rarely do." He twisted the ring on his finger a couple of times, clearly uncomfortable with the topic of conversation. "Miss Lopez informs me you're seeing the good Doctor now though?"

For a second, Dan had no clue what he meant. It wasn't until he remembered Lucifer's odd obsession with names that he realised he meant Linda. Wishing that he'd had that drink after all, he nodded.

"Excellent. Well then." Lucifer slid from his stool, towering over Dan despite his elevated position. He placed a hand on his chest, in a way reminiscent of something Amenadiel once did. "Know this, Daniel Espinoza, you need feel no guilt over your actions towards me," he said solemnly, in such a way that Dan would have found comical, if not for the sudden stillness in the air, as if this moment _meant_ something.

And then it was over, Lucifer pulling away and shaking his hands as though he'd tainted them somehow. That wasn't the strange thing, though. No, that was that, for reasons Dan couldn't explain, it seemed to have _worked_. It was as though some of his burden had been lifted under Lucifer's touch, leaving him feeling lighter than he had in months.

Lucifer rounded the breakfast bar and began to gather up the tools he'd been using, throwing them into the sink."Father knows, the Devil isn't worth going to Hell for," he muttered under his breath. Then, he caught Dan's eye again. "You must continue to relieve yourself of this guilt, Daniel. As the Detective is so fond of telling me, you are a good man. Humans, they all make mistakes. Atonement is all well and good, but forgiving yourself is just as important."

He turned on the tap, his hands gripping the sink as he stared out of the window. "Or so I'm reliably informed."

"You know that applies to you too, right?"

Lucifer's head turned sharply towards him, the look he gave him disbelieving.

"It's true," Dan insisted. His eyes skimmed over the pumpkin in front of him, the visual representation of how Lucifer saw himself. "You say you're a monster, but would you ever hurt Chloe? Or Trixie?"

"Never." Lucifer's answer came before he'd even finished the question. "I would die for them both. Have done, in fact. Twice now. I would do anything to keep them safe." The bowl now half full, he pulled up his shirt sleeved, before beginning to rinse off the pumpkin remains. "After all, a promise is a promise."

When Dan didn't answer, Lucifer glanced back over his shoulder, taking in his confusion. "You asked me to keep her safe, did you not? The Detective, that is."

Dan blinked, before the memory of a night in LUX hit him, of yet another odd moment in their history, with the offer of a kiss, and the acquiescence of a salute. "Dude, that was _years_ ago."

"Was it?" Lucifer looked almost… surprised. "Still, a deal is a deal, Daniel, although we never did agree terms on your end. Not that it particularly matters, given that I would have done it under my own volition anyway."

"I believe you." And there was that incredulous look again. "Maybe I wouldn't have back then… but you've changed a lot, Lucifer. Even if you can't see it."

A flash of sadness crossed the consultant's face, before he gave Dan a grateful, yet reluctant smile. "Not enough, I'm afraid. But I'm trying."

"Don't you see? That's it," Dan said, slamming his fist down on the counter for emphasis. "I've worked this job long enough to know that monsters? They _don't_ try. They don't care that they're monsters, they don't _want_ to change. You do. We both do."

Lucifer shook his head ever so slightly. "You don't know what I've done…"

"And you don't know what I've done," he argued back. "The point is, we put it behind us, and we try to be better. And that's exactly what you've been doing, Lucifer, whether you know it or not."

He took a deep breath, needing his next words to have enough gravitas to actually get it through that thick skull of his. "And that is why you, Lucifer Morningstar, are _not_ a monster."

For the first time since they met, Lucifer seemed shocked into silence. The light from the window caught his eyes once more, but this time, it betrayed a watery sheen that Dan pretended not to notice, and Lucifer would have sworn was never there at all.

With neither of them speaking, the atmosphere was rapidly becoming awkward. Realising he needed to save them from themselves, Dan latched on to the first thing he could think of.

"You know you can't actually enter the carving competition, right? It's for the kids."

Lucifer swallowed heavily, blinking several times before offering Dan his back once more. He cleared his throat before answering. "Who said I was the one entering?"

As if on cue, his daughter's bedroom door slid open. "Hi Dad!" Trixie called out, dashing over to the breakfast bar to look at the pumpkin. "Woah, _cool_. Thanks, Lucifer!"

His task finished, Lucifer shook his hands of any remaining water, before drying them on a nearby towel. "Now, remember our deal, urchin. Half of whatever bounty you receive tonight is bequeathed to me, yes?"

"You're suuure you want half?" Trixie said beseechingly, coming closer to Lucifer, her head tilted up towards him, wide brown eyes like saucers. It was a practiced move Dan had seen far too often over the years, yet still wasn't completely immune to. "Mom says too much candy will make you sick. And mom is _always_ right. Remember last year?"

Lucifer huffed, obviously not falling for it for a second. He folded the towel and replaced it neatly back on the rail before giving her a knowing smirk. "Well, I shall just have to ensure I enjoy my spoils while nowhere in the vicinity of your mother, won't I?""

Trixie rolled her eyes in a way that was distinctly her mother. Dan had to wonder then, did Chloe pass that on to everyone? Did _he_ roll his eyes like that too?

 _"This pumpkin better win…"_ he heard his daughter grumble, before she reached up to retrieve what was supposed to be 'her' design, intent on placing it into the box they'd already put aside.

"Monkey, you can't just enter someone else's—" he started, before the sight of his daughter finally sank in. "What are you _wearing?"_

Excitedly, Trixie abandoned her pumpkin retrieval mission, spreading her arms and spinning dramatically into a twirl.

"Isn't it awesome, Dad? I'm Maze!"

He had to admit, the costume was good. She really did look like a miniature version of Maze. All except her face, which for some reason Trixie had only decided to paint half of, the design resembling a skeleton but not quite, with what looked like tendons stretching across her cheek… Dan felt himself shudder, although he couldn't fully explain why.

Unfortunately, he then looked at the rest of her outfit. "Are those... _leather_ pants? Where did you..."

"Lucifer got them for me!"

He sighed, but managed to resist the urge to roll his eyes, determined to prove he wasn't part of the Decker eyeroll academy. "Of course he did."

"In my defence," Lucifer piped up as he strolled away from the kitchen, "the child did say she didn't desire to wear the witch costume the Detective provided."

"That doesn't mean you just buy her whatever she wants, Lucifer." Man, were they going to have to have some parenting talks if he was going to be around long term. Which, judging from today, he most certainly was.

"But witches died out centuries ago," Lucifer pointed out, grabbing a box from one of the shelves in the dining area and opening it. "Shouldn't she aspire to be something that actually exists?"

Silently, Dan thanked God that wasn't the case. Maze was scary enough by herself; the last thing she needed was to add a skeletal nightmare to her ensemble.

"Excellent work on the face by the way, urchin. Mazikeen would be proud. There's just one thing missing…"

His daughter beamed, turning on her heel and running across to Lucifer, where she promptly threw her arms around his waist. He froze, as he always did, which only made Trixie hug him tighter. To Dan's surprise though, this actually seemed to make him relax, as though his daughter had reminded him that a hug _wasn't_ a form of attack.

Although with Trixie, you could never be too sure.

"Now, spawn, I can hardly lend these to you if you insist on holding on to me, can I?"

Trixie immediately let go, causing Dan to wonder what exactly was in that box that could make her so compliant. He didn't have to wait long to find out though. To his horror, Lucifer pulled out what looked like two of Maze's half circular blades from the box, the metal glinting in the light.

He placed them in the palm of his hand, as though testing the balance. Trixie made a grab for the nearest, but the instant she moved, so did Lucifer, holding the weapon firmly out of reach. "I'll have you remember these are my personal blades, child. No sticky fingers."

The word 'no' was enough to jar Dan into action. "No. _No_. No knives at all," he said, walking over to Lucifer and yanking the box out of his hands, holding it open expectantly.

To his amazement, however, Lucifer looked at _Trixie_ , and it wasn't until she very reluctantly groaned, _"Fine,"_ that he placed the blades back where they came from.

He glared at Lucifer, expecting his ire to come across perfectly, but Lucifer just looked back at him blankly. "What were you thinking?" he hissed, barely registering Trixie dashing back into her room.

Lucifer took the box back from him, replacing it high upon the shelf. "I was _thinking_ , Daniel, that the child wanted her costume to be as authentic as possible. Maze is never without her blades."

"She's a kid, Lucifer! You can't give her knives to go trick-or-treating!"

Eyeing the medium sized bucket next to the box for the pumpkin, Lucifer looked between it and him, plainly puzzled. "Why ever not? Surely she'd get more candy that way."

"Because..."

The sound of Trixie's bedroom door closing again gave him pause, and the clock in the corner of the room caught his eye, altering him to the fact that if they didn't get going soon, they would be too late to enter the competition, never mind hit all the best houses before their bowls became empty.

"Urgh. I don't have time to explain this right now. But look, if you're going to be any kind of step-parent to Trixie, we're going to have to have some ground rules, okay?"

Focused completely on getting out of the apartment and into the car, Dan didn't really take in Lucifer's sudden silence. Trixie tapped her feet impatiently as he loaded the pumpkin securely into its box, before hauling both it and the treat bucket that would no doubt be full to the brim by the end of the evening.

"Ready, Monkey?" he said, wondering how on earth he was going to explain her costume to the rest of the parents tonight. She nodded enthusiastically, before turning to the other man in the room, who Dan had only just noticed hadn't moved in all the time they'd been busy getting ready.

"Bye, Lucifer!" Trixie yelled as she walked through the door. "Don't forget to clean up the mess!"

Lucifer didn't respond, the colour completely drained from his face as he looked up at Dan in horror. It wasn't until he saw him mouth the word, _"Step-parent?",_ that he realised what he'd done.

Halloween hadn't even really started, and yet the biggest scare of the evening had already been given to the man who claimed to be the Devil himself.

Chloe was going to kill him, but in that moment, Dan decided it was totally worth it.

"Yeah, see you later, step-dad!" he said with a grin, sidling through the door before Lucifer had a chance to snap out of it. Man, was he going to get some mileage out of this one. Part of him was already wondering how many times he could get away with swapping Lucifer's mug at the precinct for his '#1 Dad' one.

After a journey to the school mostly spent singing along to the soundtrack from Nightmare Before Christmas, they weren't far from the gates when Trixie turned the sound system down.

"Dad… if you had candy, you'd share it with me, wouldn't you?"

"Of course, Monkey," Dan said, silently praying that his daughter hadn't stumbled across the stash he kept in his desk drawer at the precinct. Not even Lucifer had found that one yet. As it turned out, a hollowed out bible proved to be an excellent hiding place. It was just a shame they didn't make refrigerated versions for pudding.

"And you're still dressing up tonight?"

Internally, Dan groaned. But Chloe insisted; if she had to bear the indignity of being forced into some overgrown children's costume each year, so did he. Of course, unlike his ex-wife would have done, he managed to leave everything until the last minute, which explained why there was currently a chicken costume stuffed in the trunk of his car that had the effect of making him look more like Big Bird than anything else. It was the last thing they had in the store, and he was still smarting over paying for the privilege of being the idiot who got to wear it.

Silently, Dan nodded, hoping he could convince Trixie not to take photos. The boys at the precinct would have a field day with this. Not to mention a certain devilish consultant if he got his hands on them. The last thing he needed was another banner with his face plastered all over it gracing the walls of the bullpen. And the break room. And the men's bathroom.

"So if you're dressed up, and _I'm_ dressed up, and we're trick-or-treating _together_... that means really, when you think about it, half the candy belongs to you, right?"

"I guess so… but sweetie, it's fine, you can have all the candy. Tonight is about you. I don't need candy."

A blatant lie if ever there was one. He was a cop; he ran solely on caffeine and sugar at the best of times. But even he wasn't going to lower himself to taking his daughter's candy.

At least not until she was asleep, anyway.

"No, no, Daddy. We should share. It's only fair…"

He turned to look at Trixie then for a second, and it was the mischievous glint in her eye that made him truly think about what she was saying. A few seconds later, and he knew exactly what game his daughter was playing.

"So. If half of the candy we collect tonight is mine… which, apparently, I'm going to be sharing with you anyway… and you promised half of _your_ candy to Lucifer… doesn't that mean that Lucifer will only get a quarter of the candy?

"Does it?" Trixie said innocently, twirling one of the wooden blades she'd somehow managed to sneak into the car around on her finger. "Oh. Poor Lucifer."

Poor Lucifer indeed. Dan knew he should say something, that it was his duty as a parent to explain why deceiving people was wrong. But… Trixie had just outsmarted the self-professed king of deals, and on Halloween, no less.

It seemed rather fitting that the self-professed Devil had been tricked out of his treats. Unknowingly, his daughter had just help deliver their latest family member some stolen pudding-related karma.

And Dan couldn't have been prouder.

**Author's Note:**

> I actually started writing this last year, which is why it's not season 5a compliant. Planning on spending the next month finishing as many WIPs as possible, so it felt fitting to start off with this one!
> 
> If you'd like to see Lucifer's pumpkin, you can do that [here!](https://twitter.com/NotOneLineFF/status/1189276457794723842)


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